“Someone has to take the lead in bringing mobile to the forefront of digital design. Investing in a mobile program just to check the box is no longer good enough. The reality is that mobile is now the first screen.”

Brian Solis drew on the seminal work of Clayton Christensen, whose model of technology adoption is widely applied in industry. Disruptive innovation, the seemingly uncomfortable process that arises when new technology or ideas are introduced into a conservative environment, is generally unwelcome to many in the business world. We like certainty and abhor change. Yet disruptive innovation is actually an opportunity for creativity and problem solving in organisations, says Solis.

To see how marketers can borrow some of that Disney magic for themselves, I went straight to the experiential marketing man himself: Brian Solis. Brian is a Principal Analyst at Altimeter Group, a LinkedIn Influencer, and a guy with some very, very big ideas for the future of marketing.

“Everyone wants great experiences in their life. In business, great experiences are the one thing that’s often missing. Customers aren’t always happy, especially those who ever have to contact customer service. Reports show consistently that customers want better experiences and executives think they’re delivering as such, yet only 8% of customers agree. That’s a pretty amazing gap.”

Brian Solis looked at digital transformation from organisational maturity and people points of view. He started off stating that one is on the wrong end of innovation when waiting for someone else to tell what needs to get done. Innovation, also digital innovation and innovation in customer experience, starts from within: Observe, believe in it, act! Similar to Dennis Snow the day before Brian Solis makes it a strong point that innovation in customer experience is about making the company “conform to expectations and aspirations of people instead of making them conform to [the company’s] assumptions or legacy investments and processes”. If people look for shortcuts, then the designed experience is wrong.

Everywhere you turn, it’s difficult to not see the words “customer experience” and “surprise and delight” in the same sentence. But what does that even mean?

At its core, CX necessitates a shift in perspective. This work after all is about customer experience. It’s their experience that counts and should serve as the inspiration for CX strategy. It’s not about what we can do, or how we’re limited in support and resources, or building about legacy stuff because it’s there. As such, we need to see people and sense the real world experiences that they have, feel, share and remember for what it is. That’s the key to unlocking empathy.

He is one of the first leaders of digital influence and marketing, having worked with some of the most recognized brands, startups, celebrities, and industry leaders. If anyone understands the complications progress purveys, it’s Brian Solis. At Altimeter Group, he serves as the company point man when adapting disruptive, emerging tech to traditional business models.

Create an experience – Brian Solis
It’s not easy to make potential clients identify with your brand and talk about it. When you think about it, why should they? Why should anyone care? You can’t come to the world and expect everyone to start talking about your brand like it’s the greatest thing since bread came sliced. You have to do something in order to be spoken of. You have to create an experience that is talkable and shareable. This is the bottom line of this important tip from a new book by Brian Solis: “without experience architecture, your brand is leaving an incredible opportunity for meaningful engagement open to interpretation. In a connected society, impressions become expressions that influence the impressions of others. Experiences, especially intentional experiences, are more important than ever as they become a competitive advantage the more they are experienced and shared.” Give your customers a good reason to talk about you.

Many executives are still not digitally literate, said Brian Solis, a principal at the Altimeter Group. Although they know they need technology in order to succeed, their own blind spots or resentments about the technology — and change in general — can deprive their organizations of the ability to capitalize on their investments.